Shoe welt, seam, and rib ironing machine



Feb. '7} 19% J. P. FREDERICKSEIN SHOE WELT, SEAM, AND RIB IRONINGMACHINE Filed Oct. 26, 1948 in 10mm Mr cbmes P. Freda Pic/(sen 44' Z0VIII/IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIA Patented Feb. 7, 1950 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICESHOE WELT, SEAM, AND RIB IRONING MACHINE Application October 26, 1948,Serial No. 56,539

9 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a machine for operating upon shoes, and itparticularly pertains to a mechanism adapted for ironing and smoothingthe edges of the inseam materials and for fiattening the welts of lastedwelt shoes preparatory to attaching the outsoles.

In the manufacture of welt shoes, the welt and upper are stitched to theinseam rib which is then trimmed above the stitch line and as closethereto as practicable. It will be found that, at this stage ofconstruction, the welt, instead of lying flat in the plane of the shoebottom, will tend to curl or warp, especially in zones of high curvaturesuch as around toe portions. In addition, it may be found that theinseam materials are irregularly trimmed so that the inseam and the weltwill not uniformly contact with an outer sole when placed thereon. Inorder to assure a uniform contiguity of the outsole with the inseam andwelt, it has heretofore been customary to pound down the inseammaterials and to pound down or stretch out the welt to form asubstantially flat shoe bottom to which the outer sole can be attached.This operation has usually been performed by means of rolls or hammerswhich beat upon the inseam materials to reduce them to a common level,and beat or otherwise flatten the welt to conform it to the plane of theshoe bottom. It has also been the common practice to slash the weltaround the sharply curved toe portions so that the welt may be made tolie fiat.

Machines heretofore employed to perform the above operations of levelingand flattening required numerous operating instrumentalities which notonly added greatly to their cost of production but also rendered themmore diflicult to maintain in operation. An object of the presentinvention is to provide a machine which will accomplish the desiredflattening of the inseam and welt by means of a single operatinginstrumentality, and which will be economical to manufacture andmaintain.

An important advantageous feature of the present invention is that thecustomary pounding action and the welt slashing have been avoided byutilizing a tool having a rapid reciprocal rubbing action which smoothsdown the high spots, and flattens and stretches the welt, withoutdetrimentally affecting the firmness or strength of the inseam materialor of the welt.

To this end, and as illustrated, there is pro vided a work supporthaving a rotatable roll adapted to enter the welt crease of a shoe beingoperated upon. Slightly to one side, and above this roll, is a rubbingand ironing tool which is dependently aflixed to a reciprocating headwhich rapidly vibrates the tool so that its rubbing surface moves backand forth along the inseam and welt in a substantially horizontal planethus producing a burnishing action upon the work materials. By providingthe work support with a vertically yieldable spring, the desiredpressure may be constantly maintained between the rubbing surface of thetool and the materials as they are fed along beneath the tool. Such arubbing or ironing action compresses and drags the high spots down to asmooth uniform level, and effectively flattens, smooths and stretchesthe welt in zones of curvature to produce a substantially flat shoebottom to which the outer sole can be evenly secured.

These and other features of the invention are disclosed in the followingspecification and in the accompanying drawings, and are pointed. out inthe claims.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a machine embodyi-ng the invention;

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatical sketch of the tool reciprocating mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a side view, partially in section, illustrating a shoe inoperative position, andv showing details: of the work support andassociated mechanism; and

Fig. 4 is an enlarged. perspective view showin by way of example oneform of rubbing tool.

The mechanism shown for imparting recipro cal movement to the. rubbingtool is substantially the same as that of the Edge setting; machine,

disclosed in United States Letters Patent. No. 368,853, granted August23, I887, on application oi Simon Ross, .l"r., and, as showndiagrammatrcally in Fig; 2,. comprises a rotary shaft t0; carryme acrank pin I2, which causes a pitman. M to oscillate horizontally; Thepitman is pivotedat [6 by a wrist pin to a vertical arm it. whichcarries a rubbing tool 20 at its lower end. The arm [8- carries anarc-shaped member 22, having its center of curvature substantially atthe working face of the: tool 2-0, and this arc-shaped. member engages:a flat ledge 25-, mounted fixedly upon the frame of the machine, beinheld in contact therewith by a suitable spring. The rolling oi the are22-, upon the surface 24, causes the tool M to move substantiallyhorizontally instead; of in the arc of a'circle. All of the foregoingstructure is shown in the patent above referred toand need not befurther described.

with reference to Figs. 1 and 3; the arm to, at

Each ironing tool 26 is removably fitted to thespindle by a hollowsleeve member 30 extending upwardly from the tool and snugly fittingaround either of the cylindrical pins 32, upon which it is held inposition by a spring clip 34, which slidingly engages within aretaininggroove 36 formed on the outside of the sleeve 30. The bottoms of thetools 20 may be formed into variously shaped burnishing surfaces forironing the welt and inseam in a path parallel to the bottom of theshoe. While this invention is not directed to the particular design ofthese surfaces, it has been demonstrated that a surface similar to thatillustrated in Fig. 4 will produce excellent smoothing and batteningresults. It will be seen that this tool has a medial groove 38 indentingits rubbing face and providing two arcuate surfaces 46, each extendingtransversely to the path of reciprocal movement. Such a formationincreases the efiiciency of the tool, because in effect it generates twobands of contacting area between the tool and the work.

The shoe is maintained operatively positioned and the welt 44 and inseamare held pressed upwards against the tool by a rotatable work supportcomprising a roll or disk 42 positioned beneath the tool and carried onthe outer extremity of an arm 46 which extends forward from the pedestalof the machine. The welt supporting areas of the rotatable disk '12 arearranged so as to be parallel to the path generated by the reciprocatingface of the tool 26. The disk 42 is formed with a concaved bevel aboutits periphery to provide a thin edge 48 designed to enter the weltcrease of a shoe and to extend as far as possible under the welt toafford maximum support. The edge 48 serves also as an edge gage. Thesupport 42 is rotatably fastened to its mounting by a screw 56 whichpasses through a thrust bearing 52 and is threaded into a plunger element 54 axially movable within the bore of a barrel 56 formed on the endof the arm 46. The disk and plunger are normally urged upward by theforce of a compression spring 58, and the limit of upward travel of theplunger is adjustably determined and maintained b a nut E and a lock nut6| threaded on a stem 62 extending down from the plunger through anopening in the bottom of the barrel 56. The upper nut 66 bears againstthe bottom of the barrel so that the support 42 may not come in contactwith the vibrating tool when there is no Work present beneath therubbing faces 40. The strength of the spring 58 should be great enoughto press the work up against the vibrating tool with a force sufiicientto produce a well-smoothed surface along the inseam and welt, but theupward pressure should not be so strong as to produce a binding actionwhich would materially impair the feeding of the work. In order tofacilitate the insertion of the work between the tool and the worksupport, the upward force of the spring 58 may be overcome and thesupport 42 drawn down by a treadle pull rod 64 attached to the lower endof the stem 62. If desired, the machine may be equipped with a powerdrive for rotating the sup- 4 port 42 so that the disk, when operativelypositioned against the welt, will function as an automatic feed for thework.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine for operating upon shoes to flatten and smooth the welt andtrimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising a work support provided withan edge gage adapted to enter the welt crease and progressively supportthe shoe upon the grain side of the welt as the shoe is operatively fed,a rapidly reciprocating tool having a burnishing surface engageable withthe edge of the inseam and the flesh side of the welt, and means fordriving said tool back and forth substantially parallel to the line offeed.

2. A machine for progressively operating upon shoes to flatten andsmooth the welt and trimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising a worksupport, a reciprocating ironing tool having a burnishing surfaceengageable with the flesh side of the welt and the edge of the inseam,and means for driving said tool back and forth substantially parallel tothe line of work feed.

3. A machine for operating upon shoes to fiatten and smooth the welt andtrimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising a work support engageablewith the grain side of the welt as the shoe is operatively fed, areciprocating ironing tool spaced above the support, means for yieldablymounting said support for movement relative to the tool, and means fordriving said tool back and forth substantially parallel to the line offeed.

4. A machine for progressively operating upon shoes to flatten andsmooth the welt and trimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising areciprocating ironing tool havin a burnishing surface enl gageable withthe flesh side of the welt and the edge of the inseam, a rotatable worksupporting roll spaced beneath said tool, and means for driving the toolback and forth substantially parallel to the line of work feed.

5. A machine for progressively operating upon shoes to flatten andsmooth the welt and trimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising areciprocating ironing tool, a rotatable work supporting roll spacedbeneath said tool, means for yieldably urging the roll upwards towardssaid tool, and means for driving the tool back and forth substantiallyparallel to the line of work feed.

6. A machine for operating upon shoes to flatten and smooth the welt andtrimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising a work support engageablewith the grain side of the welt as the shoe is operatively fed, and avibratory tool having a .burnishing surface extending substantially inthe plane of the shoe bottom and engageable with the flesh side of thewelt and the edge of the inseam materials,

7. A machine for progressively operating upon shoes to flatten andsmooth the welt and trimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising areciprocating ironing tool, a rotatable work supporting roll spacedbeneath said tool, yieldable pressure means for normally maintainingsaid tool and roll in operative contact with the work, and means fordriving the tool back and forth substantially parallel to the line ofWork feed.

8. A machine for operating upon shoes to flatten and smooth the welt andtrimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising a work support engageablewith the grain side of the welt as the shoe is operatively fed, avibratory tool having a burnishing surface extending substantially inthe plane of the shoe bottom and engageable with the flesh side of thewelt and the edge of the inseam materials, and yieldable pressure meansfor normally maintaining said support and tool in operative contact withthe work.

9. A machine for progressively operating upon shoes to flatten andsmooth the welt and trimmed inseam of a lasted shoe, comprising a worksupport engageable with the grain side of the welt in as the shoe isoperatively fed, a reciprocating ironing tool spaced above the support,and yieldable pressure means for effecting relative movement of thesupport and tool, said movement being in a direction heightwise of theshoe to vary the spaced-apart relationship of the support and tool inorder to automatically accommodate for progressively varying thicknessesof the work.

JAMES P. FREDERICKSEN.

No references cited.

